The United States is a mix of political and economic interests, often contradictory, and it's very hard to anticipate what will lead, or drag, America into a war against Iran. It's important to remember that since World War II this military power has been involved in several bloody wars, to the benefit of a significant chunk of the U.S. economy. In retrospect, all were described as being part of the march of folly.

Is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu trying to create a situation wherein the United States will believe it "has no choice" but to resume fighting in the region? After all, he knows that the Israel Defense Forces can't fight a decisive war 3,000 kilometers from home. He also knows that such a war will not assure the removal of the threat. And what about the possibility that Iran, in response to being hit, "dribbles" on us five Shahab missiles every day for a year, say, right into our business districts?

Let's say that Netanyahu is only bluffing, and there's no chance that Israel will attack Iran, not given the current state of Western economies and without a green light from the Americans. And let's say that the war in Syria, the "warm-up game" for the war with Iran, really won't turn into a regional conflict. Moreover, during all Netanyahu's years as prime minister, Israel has yet to be dragged into a war (as opposed to under the Labor governments and Ehud Olmert and his two wars of caprice ). So maybe we really are just talking about war propaganda.

Still, even if Netanyahu's bluffing, or trying to forge a military alliance with the Americans, there ought to have been a solid coalition formed by the left against a war with Iran, that would take on itself a task that no other political entity could assume other than the left, because there is no greater oppositional issue that could push the wider public to the left like opposing war. A true left is meant to pursue those areas where it could gain adherents without lying, God forbid.

We're not only talking about the political interest in broadening its appeal, by reaching people that the left has yet to reach. One must remember, and remind others, that the discourse of war is an incredible political weapon in the hands of the regime, which is already implementing economic decrees, leaving no memory of its promises to lessen the burden. Given such discourse, the defense budget will of course be increased - it certainly won't be cut to benefit health care, education or housing. War will bring a disaster upon us, but even that discourse is a poison that neuters any struggle for social justice.

And yet, despite the ongoing talk about the approaching Armageddon, there has - unbelievably - been no sound from the left, Yes, there was some sort of Facebook campaign of "Israelis and Iranians love each other," which lasted about a week, another shtick using Photoshop and other techniques that left graffiti on the streets and scribbles on the walls of public bathrooms, and there was even a demonstration, which peaked with a report of it on CNN.

That's it. It's as if it never happened. But preparing public opinion for war is a much more thorough and ongoing matter, and uses terms of Holocaust and redemption. That's why those who oppose such a war have to work even harder and more intensely.

The opposition doesn't have the tools of the regime, nor does it (yet ) have the suffering and death that would occur if war does break out. Even during the Second Lebanon War the protest didn't come from the million Israelis who were under fire. They were busy trying to survive. Or they simply stood silent before the nation that was fighting "for them," as befits residents of the periphery, who always feel a need to salute the political and military center and of course, belittle the "cafe-sitters in the center." The protest that occurred gathered steam only because of the IDF casualties and happened, as always, only in the central region.

If there is a war, the number of losses, as far as the dead are concerned, will be 100%. And the story will anyway be told by Hollywood, not by the Netanyahu family. "Rambo in Tehran" will probably be filmed in the Saudi desert.

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